Manual compound transmissions are generally positioned within a driveline adjacent a primary drive unit with at least one rotating drive shaft. These compound transmissions generally include a shifter or gear selector that extends from the transmission for interaction with an operator. The compound transmission may include a rotating and sliding assembly that is configured to engage a desired gear set when an operator moves the shifter or gear selector. Specifically, in a manual compound transmission, an operator, through the gear selector, selects an appropriate gear by pushing or pulling the shift lever to a desired shift gate. A rail selector fixed to a main shift rail is configured to translate the movement of the shift lever to shift rails and shift forks, which causes a shift collar to slide over the appropriate rotating gear to synchronize and activate a desired gear range.
In such manual compound transmissions, it is typically desirable that only one shift rail be permitted to move from its neutral position at any one time to prevent damage to the gearing and/or clutch components. Accordingly, most manual transmissions incorporate some type of interlock mechanisms to inhibit movement of more than one shift rail at a given time. In most interlock mechanisms, movement of any one of the shift rails from its neutral position actuates a locking component which in turn is coupled to block any axial movement of the other shift rails until the one shift rail has been returned to a neutral position.